From the responsorial psalm: "The LORD is king, in splendor robed; robed is the LORD and girt about with strength. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty."

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 18:33b-37)

Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Pilate is trying to ascertain what Jesus has done; that is, why Jesus has become his problem. Pilate knows Jesus is not King of the Jews, but he asks him to check whether Jesus is in his right mind. Jesus answers his question with a question: "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?" Again, Pilate retreats from having to take responsibility for the fate of Jesus by saying that the chief priests handed Jesus over to him. Yet, as he tries to find a way in his power to deal with Jesus, he fails to see in Jesus, Truth made manifest, and gives Jesus over to the people to have him crucified. "What is truth?" he would ask Jesus, the way and the truth and the life in the flesh.

God, keep my mind clear today in knowing Truth as it is in the person of Jesus, King of the universe. Help me turn away from lies and the father of all lies, the evil one. Help me avoid the ways of the world that want nothing to do with you and to know the love you bestow on us in your kingdom as your children. Through Jesus who reigns in splendor at your right hand, Truth took on human form and brought us to truth and life in his passion, death, and resurrection as firstborn of the dead. Give me the grace to trust in the victory of Truth that we will all be witnesses to the glorious coming of Christ our King, that "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him." Your dominion, Lord, is an everlasting dominion; your kingship will not be destroyed.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

From the responsorial psalm: "Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!"

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 20:27-40)

"That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

The question the Sadducees pose to Jesus is this: If a woman marries seven brothers in succession after her first husband dies and then each of those husbands die, whose wife will the woman be? It is a hypothetical, even ridiculous question, meant to support the Sadducees's belief that there was no resurrection of the dead and that belief in it is absurd. But Jesus refocuses the question toward the truth and away from the diversion. Their question is about eternal life, and Jesus describes a life in the resurrection that goes beyond relationships and institutions. Jesus goes on to interpret Scripture, revealing to the Sadducees his role as the person of truth, God's only Son who would receive the breath of God in his resurrection.

God, what the psalmist makes clear I want to carry with me throughout the day: this life is a spiritual battle, and you train my hands for battle and my fingers for war. In the first reading, you brought to life with your breath the prophets who were tormented and persecuted. After they died, your "breath of life" entered them, and they heard your loud voice from heaven, saying, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven as their enemies looked on. What does this say to me today? Be my mercy and my fortress, Lord, my stronghold and deliverer, my shield in whom I trust.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

From the responsorial psalm: "How sweet to my palate are your promises, sweeter than honey to my mouth! How sweet to my taste is your promise!"

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 19:45-48)

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.

The religious leaders who close in on Jesus are frustrated as he teaches every day in the temple area and one day drives out those who are selling things. Just as the scroll in the first reading is sour to swallow, so are the words of Jesus to those who oppose him because of the people who hear his words and hang on them. Taken in, the the words of Jesus are sweet. "How sweet to my taste is your promise!" the psalmist sings. Yet, taking in the words sometimes puts us in bitter opposition to people and the rulers of the world who seek to impose their purpose, which is to put to death the Word made flesh. Hearing and following his voice, we remain in him.

God, help me understand what it means to "take and swallow" your word. Jesus, the Word incarnate, is present body and blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist. How sweet is the promise of Christ, fulfilled through his death and resurrection, and given every time I receive the Eucharist. To take and eat is not to envelop myself in a supernatural shield but to be strengthened to confront suffering and sorrow with divine sustenance and help. Give me the grace, Lord, to listen out for you and follow your voice; if I fail in that effort, stir in me the desire to recognize my state and turn again to you. Saint Cecilia, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

From the responsorial psalm: “Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy upon their couches; Let the high praises of God be in their throats. This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia. The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 19:41-44)

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Not seeing the time of the visitation of the Lord, the people of Jerusalem rejected the Messiah, the true temple. They would see a few decades after the crucifixion of Jesus the destruction of the temple stone by stone under the Roman emperor Titus. Recognizing the consequences of the people’s rejection of him, Jesus weeps—not because of personal rejection but because of the people’s hardness of heart and inability to see the author of peace standing among them. Blind to the visitation of God and his divine authority in our lives, we are weak to the attack of enemies who seek to hem us in on all sides. Jesus, the worthy Lamb in the Book of Revelation, is alive in the Eucharist, commanding us as he commanded the Apostles: “Take and eat; this is my body.”

God, help me know you by the fruit of the Holy Spirit that Jesus desired for Jerusalem. Help me recognize that the person of Christ is what makes for peace. Even as the enemies within and without block my sight of you, you are there, waiting as I redirect my gaze. Although foes press on—I myself a sinner among them—open my eyes today to what I can easily lose sight of through hard-heartedness and lack of faith. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace. Mary, Tabernacle of the Most High, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

From the responsorial psalm: "Praise the LORD in his sanctuary, praise him in the firmament of his strength. Praise him for his mighty deeds, praise him for his sovereign majesty. Holy, holy, holy Lord, mighty God!"

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 19:11-28)

“A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’ His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’"

In response to the people's belief that the kingdom of God would appear in Jerusalem on Jesus' approach to it, Jesus tells a parable about a nobleman who travels to a distant country to become king and then return. He gives ten servants each a gold coin to invest while he is away. Upon his return, the nobleman rewards the servants who made a profit with positions of authority, while the servant who hid his coin is punished. Not a parable about making wise financial decisions and how to achieve power, the parable Jesus tells expresses the gifts God gives us and how we respond to these spiritual realities. Just as the servants make the best of the gold coins they are given, so too Jesus invites us to make the best of our unique gifts in the present moment—returning to God what he gave us first.

God, help me today be faithful and diligent in serving you with the gifts and talents you have given me. Many priorities cry out for attention when only one thing is necessary. As the elders in heaven say, “Worthy are you, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things; because of your will they came to be and were created.” Give me the grace to call to mind that your kingdom is yet to come but is already here. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Amid the practical realities of the day, help me remember that the day itself a gift of your supreme love, and more will be given. As I strive to do your will, I hope to hear at the end of every day, "Well done, good servant!" Teach me, Lord, to serve you well.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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From the responsorial psalm: "Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked Nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, But delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night. Those who are victorious I will feed from the tree of life."

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 18:35-43)

As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” The people walking in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent, but he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me!”

The blind man in today's Gospel is a model of persistent prayer and expressing it in a way that catches God's attention. It is also a model of evangelization. The blind man shouts and calls out to Jesus to be heard. Although initially rebuking him, on seeing the blind man healed and giving glory to God, the same crowd who rebuked him turn around and give praise to God. The healing that takes place through his faith is a kind of multiplication of the loaves, where shared among others it multiplies many times over. A prerequisite for the blind man's healing is his lack of sight, his desire to see. This speaks to every person who lacks something in faith that love and repentance restore so that we can try again. As the Lord says in the first reading: "you have lost the love you had at first. Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first." The blind man gains sight; in his faith and miraculous healing, he gives us cause to give praise to God.

God, help me understand today's Gospel in light of the Gospel acclamation: "I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life." Every day, Lord, there is reason to call out to you; I lose sight of you and stumble in the dark, realizing more and more that I am dependent on you for every good gift. In giving all thanks and glory to you for restoring in me the light of your love time after time—in prayer, at Mass, and in the sacraments—help make my faith in you a witness to others and a cause for them to give you praise.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

From the responsorial psalm: "O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot. I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. You are my inheritance, O Lord!"

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 13:24-32)

"Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Jesus speaks to the disciples about the coming in glory of the Son of Man. At his coming, the stars will fall, the moon will no longer give light, and “the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” Echoing Daniel, who describes in apocalyptic language a “time unsurpassed distress,” Jesus conveys his return powerfully but also tenderly in terms of the fig tree branches becoming tender and sprouting leaves. “And then,” Jesus tells the disciples, “they will see 'the Son of Man coming in the clouds' with great power and glory” and that although heaven and earth pass away, his words—our inheritance of eternal life—will not pass away.

Father in heaven, teach me to be vigilant at all times for the return of your Son on a day and time I cannot know. In times of tribulation, help me call to mind your constant, tender care in leading me to you. In your presence is the path to life and the fullness of joy. Throughout the moments of this day, keep me in your presence and under your protection, as when we hear the priest say during the Mass after the Lord’s Prayer: “Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.